


To Be A Tree

by orphan_account



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: Anyways, BE NICE TO THE TREES, Eco-awareness, Kindness, Nature, Pollution - Freeform, Sad but gets happier I swear, origional story, yes i am the Lorax now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:13:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22756087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Cassie made him out of a match and wire almost a decade ago, and drew a smile with markers a few weeks later. He is Ember, her best friend forever.Until she forgets about him.Ember waits patiently for Cassie to take him out again, but when she does, she's ... different. And she throws him away. Looks like forever ends.Now what is he supposed to do?





	1. Chapter 1

Cassie was four when I was made. She'd just moved into her new house with her mother and sisters, but wasn't at all interested in things like unpacking. She left Hannah, Allie, and her mom to do that while she went exploring, looking for something to play with.

All she could find was a match in the otherwise empty kitchen drawers and some old pipe cleaner wire with all of the fuzz pulled off. She wrapped the wire around the match near the rounded top and dubbed her new best friend Rama.

He didn't have any clothes to match him that came in sets like her other dolls, or even a face, but Cassie didn't mind. She knew her mother would do the same thing she always did if she asked for something in a store: open her mouth, touch her pocketbook, and close it again. Then she'd shake her head and say, "No, Cassie, we can't get a lot until after the move." 

That was okay. Now she had a new friend to explore the new house and new school and new town with. At first, her mom screamed when she saw what Cassie was playing with, but then Hannah, her nine-year-old sister, pointed out that Cassie thought it was a doll. "She doesn't run her other doll's heads on wooden panels, let alone matchboxes."

"His name is Rama," Cassie said, not exactly sure what was going on.

"No," Allison, who was twelve, put in. "You should call him Ember. That's a cool name."

Allison used the word cool a lot, and seemed to be an expert on the word, always telling her sisters what was or wasn't cool. Cassie knew cool was a good thing, so she said, "Okay. His name is Ember," and that was that.

-x-x-x-x-

Of course, Ember was just a doll to Cassie. Just like any other doll, she wanted cast him aside as soon as she got the newest toy on the market. She even forgot about him until she went through her old junk.

Now thirteen years old, Cassie took it downstairs. "Hannah," she asked, "What is this thing?"

"What?" Hannah didn't look up from her phone.

"It's a match with some bent wire around it. Someone drew a smiley face on the head," Cassie noticed.

Hannah's eyes flicked up. "It's Ember," she said.

"What? Did this thing have a name?"

"Yeah. You made it and I named the dumb thing. It was supposed to be a doll, I think."

Cassie looked at it with disgust. "When was this?"

"When we first moved in, I think." Hannah stood up and glared at Cassie for a moment before going back to her phone. "I'll be up in my room. Don't annoy me, I'm texting Cara."

"Ooooh, your girlfriend," Cassie teased.

"Shut up!" Hannah's face grew red. "Cara and I are not dating! We're just friends."

Cassie giggled, then threw Ember away without a second thought.

\------------------

I've been here as long as I can remember. Darkness. On leftover chicken, a banana peel on top of me, so if I opened my mouth I'd eat it.

Wait, no. Something before that. A human talking.  
Holding me? Yes.

What about before that?  
I was in a dark box. Under ruffles.

I was there for a long time, but something tells me that's not what I was in the beginning.

Oh!! Oh oh oh!! I was Ember!!  
And before that? A ...mmmm....  
A match!

Okay, what was I before that?

Man. This is hard.  
I was a lonely match for a while, you know.  
Uhm.. I was

I was in a green place.  
With other ... tall stick things.. I was.. I was a..

Uh

I was

TREE!!

That was forever ago. Centuries.

Trees have good memories, you know. I guess when you cut up a tree, you cut up their memory.

I was a massive tree. They called me the Wishtree.

But that's a whole other story. I told that one on the paper they made. I heard it got published somewhere.

Now I'm a match; but a doll, too. My name is Ember.

Yeah. Ember.

My name is Ember.

I can't forget that.

you know what

i miss it

being a tree

trees are kind

trees treat you better than humans

trees treat you better than humans

i miss the trees i knew

i was called red

when i was a small tree a whole forest was around me

then people moved in

at least i could stay

part of me wants to find the forest

or what still is where it was before

thats where i want to put down my roots

i want to be there

in the green place

and be a tree

can a match go back to being a tree?


	2. Chapter 2

why am i here?

this is a dump

it is disgusting

it is for trash

and i am not trash

i am

ember

my name is ember

ember ember ember

ember

i cannot forget that

Ember

EMBER

and then i felt it

then it grew stronger

i could almost see it

a thing like me  
without the limbs

`hello`

`hello?`

`you seem familiar`

`you do, too`

`who are you?`

`a match`

`i mean, what is your name?`

`i don't have one.`

`you don't?`

`do you?`

`Ember. we must get you a name`

`we must get me what?`

`a name`

`what is that?`

`someone calls you by it`

`so i call you Ender?`

`Ember.`

`Why is it important?`

`having a name means  
someone is calling to you`

`someone wants you  
and nobody else`

`someone gave you it to tell you  
apart from everyone else`

`because they think you  
are different from them`

i remember once, Cara came. 

She left after, and Cassie called her sister into her bedroom.

She was giggling and couldn't stop.

"Cara is the best," she said.

"What'd you do?"

"I asked her out, and she kissed me!"

`Cara is the best,` i said

i dont know why i did

maybe it felt good to have  
someone with a name to remind me  
where i was before

or maybe it reminded me  
i had someone, like Hannah and Cara  
had each other

i wonder how they ended up


	3. Chapter 3

tree.

i can't wait to grow into one again.

i think i remember once,

wait,

oh yes, one time,

i went onto a city bus

of course, i went with my best friend

we went to an airport

and then to a specail room

i am so tiny, cassie's fist almost hid me entirely.

but i could see some.

i saw them fold a flag.

it had stars and stripes.

they turned the rectangle into a triangle.

they gave it to cassie's Mommy.

everyone cried.

even i did, a little.

i cried more when cassie told me about her dad.

she never got to meet him.

"he was protecting me,  
he was protecting you,  
he was fighting for good things,  
like freedom, life, liberty,"

and then she cried a little.

"but now mommy says he can't come home."

the box was covered in another flag.

it was the same kind, though,

stars and stripes.

the box didn't have her daddy.

"he's gone forever, isn't he, Mommy?"

no reply.

then the box went underground.

this is what i thought of when i saw two more boxes.

covered in flags.

not a lot of people came, like they did for cassie's daddy.

just two old ladies,

one old man.

and a little girl.

she held two triangle flags.

i hope she finds her way home, too.

home to her family.

to her roots.

everyone belongs with their roots.

everyone deserves to know where they came from.


	4. Chapter 4

i found my way from the dump into a lady's bag.

it took me a while to learn to walk.

longer to climb.

but she came every day, set her bag down in the office,

and went to talk to some guy.

she always brought fliers.

she used words like "nature" and "preserve" and "save"

"recycle" and "reuse" and "re-create"

"save the trees,

save the world!"

i decided i liked her.

she got onto a city bus

then she put the bag down

i fell off, but that's ok

when it stopped moving for the night,

i climbed to the top of a windowsill.

now i will see when the bus takes me to trees.

i will get out when i see them

to plant my roots.

i almost feel bad for leaving the other match

but she didnt understand

she thought that i was crazy

'matches are meant to burn'

'i burned'

'you never burned?'

'someone CARED for you?'

'matches are not to be cared for'

'matches are to burn'

'i was put to use lighting cut up trees on fire.'

'i changed my mind. i dont want a name.'

'you must be insane.'

im not crazy.

im not meant to destroy..

am i?


	5. Chapter 5

i guess a match gets tired because i slept last night.

except when i woke up someone was looking at me

and they grabbed me and took me to their home and

there were trees!!

i get more and more tired every day, and i think  
my main wooden stick thingy is broken.

but that is okay!

the bus ride went to the same places every day

and none of the places had trees

but i cant get the other match's words out of my head

am i meant to burn?

to destory?

i have to have a bigger meaning in life!

i have to!

dont you think sometimes you have no meaning  
excpet destroy and eliminate and harm?  
well i do right now and it is NOT FUN!  
so i will tke everything that makes me harmful  
and turn it into beautiful things  
and make the world a better place

somehow.

i will be awake tomorrow to tell you more things.


End file.
